What should be the prevailing thought about a ten-year-old boy dressed in drag, strutting the runway at Paris Fashion Week? Should it be seen as the epitome of fashion-forward, or child abuse?
To the cutting-edge leftists at New York magazine's The Cut, it’s the cultivation of “a defining talent” for Desmond Napoles. The article introduced readers to the young boy shopping at a gender-neutral clothing store in New York, called “Phluid.” If you think this very concept is horrible, well, hold on. It’s going to get a lot worse.
During his runway walk in the store, The Cut wrote that Desmond’s “face becomes the height of performed femininity. His face settles into a soft fierceness, lips pouty beneath big, red heart-shaped glasses. His shoulders roll and his arms hang light and loose as his hips swing.” During the interview, Desmond was wearing rhinestone-encrusted platform boots, and applied his own make-up.
If you’re demanding to know where this little boy’s parents are, be at ease. Mom was the one who helped him apply his fake-eyelashes. She’s definitely his biggest fan.
Desmond, or Desi as he’s usually called, has attracted a reasonably large social media following after a video went viral of him at the 2015 New York Pride parade (always a great place for children). The Cut described Desi in the video as taking a “breathlessly self-assured walk,” and “voguing his little soul out.” Afterwards he was invited to walk the runway at the Gypsy Sport event during New York Fashion Week 2018, his appearance being the most talked about at the event.
He has since gained 36,000 instagram followers, and is launching his own social media network, called Haus of Amazing, for kids who are “inspired” by the drag scene as well.
Desmond’s love for crossdressing began at an even earlier age. The Cut reported that from the age of two, little Desi would watch RuPaul’s Drag Race with his mom. Pretty soon he was rummaging through his mother’s closet, and finding his way to the high-heel section at the local mall. Although he did have the support of his parents, they were still concerned that maybe Desi should see a therapist, just to make sure nothing was seriously wrong.
Of course, the therapist told them that nothing was wrong. “The doctor said, ‘You realize you’re raising a gay kid, right?’ Andrew (Desmond’s father) recalls. They responded, ‘Yup,’ and moved on.” His parents simply accepted the fact that their five-year-old son was dabbling in things that would terrify most little boys that age. But parents should always listen to their progressive, new age therapists on contemporary issues of sexuality.
If his parents went to get a second opinion, Desmond might not be the fabulous drag queen who’s already made guest appearances on RuPaul’s fashion show, might not have been written up in Vogue, nor have his growing social media platform. But really, what’s the importance of human dignity and childhood innocence when you turn get to heads as some crossdressing oddity before the age of twelve?
